Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sock, in particular a sports sock, comprising a sole region which has a toe region, a ball region and a heel region.
The term sock here stands for all types of legwear, including also, for example, stockings, tights, foot wraps and the like.
In sports activities in particular, socks today not only serve the function of reducing friction between the foot and the shoe, they also support the foot in its natural rolling movement. In a running and jumping movement, an increased load is applied to the foot, as a result of which the foot buckles to dampen the impact. In this so-called pronation, the foot with its outer sole marginal region rests against the base support and it shifts the load subsequently slightly toward the foot inner side, so that the longitudinal arch of the foot can cave in and thus absorb part of the impact.
Pronation depends on the particular configuration of the foot. Here, a distinction must be made between different foot types, namely the normal foot, the contracted foot, and the flat foot. The normal foot has a foot arch optimally shaped for the rolling movement. During walking or running, it first contacts the ground with the outer side of the back of the foot, then it rolls inward, in order to absorb and dampen the impact on the ground. This is referred to as natural pronation. Contracted feet, on the other hand, do not buckle inward in the landing phase, and they leave a footprint primarily in the front and back foot regions. This is referred to as underpronation. As a result, the natural protection of the foot against impacts is strongly reduced. Flat feet, on the other hand, have a very low foot arch and they leave a complete footprint, because they buckle very strongly toward the inner side after the setting down phase. This movement is referred to as overpronation.
Both in underpronation and in overpronation, insufficient damping of the impact energy generated during walking or running occurs. Consequently, the foot—and as a result the rest of the locomotion apparatus of humans—is exposed to particularly heavy loads.
Description of Related Art
In order to protect the tendons and the ligaments, it is therefore known to use socks that support the natural roll movement of the foot and reduce the extent of underpronation or overpronation. DE 10 2007 024 758 A1 discloses such a sock. The sole region of the sock is here provided with a pronation support, which is arranged in the region of the longitudinal arch of the sole region. The pronation support is formed in the shape of a sickle and it has substantially the length of the longitudinal arch and a width that is two to four times smaller.
Moreover, in the sole region, a front and a rear damping region are provided, which dampen the impact of the ball region and of the heel region. Here, the disadvantage of this sole region, which has been subdivided into several regions, is the low wearer comfort, resulting from the slipping of the sock on the foot of the wearer. As a result of several independently acting functional regions, the overall hold is insufficient and as a result the control of the roll of the foot by the sock is insufficient, so that the foot does not roll along the roll line.
In addition, in the prior art, other variants exist that provide a one-part design of the functional regions. For example, DE 10 2008 020 993 B4 describes a sock in which the entire sole region, i.e., over its entire length, has a design with structuring as a function of a roll line. Although this ensures a secure hold of the foot during the roll movement, an unpleasantly rigid wearing sensation for the wearer is generated, due to the firm guidance of the sock. In addition, at the buckling places of the structure, material is thrown over, which can leave painful pressure sites on the foot sole.